Re: report on eating brains

[Guest guest]

Mike,

Congratulations-and I couldn't help but giggle a little bit!

Kathy

--- In , " Anton " <bwp@u...>

wrote:

> Great News! I finally got around to trying raw brains. In fact, last

> week I tried a raw deer brain, and yesterday I scored about 8 lbs of

> grass-fed organic cow brains during slaughter at my local butcher

> shop. The results: Wow! Raw brain is an astounding morsel right out

> of some veteran seafood lover's wistful fantasies of the soft

> treasures from a species that doesn't exist. " delicacy " is an

> understatement. Once I got the technique down, it turned out not to

> be so hard to get it out of the head, just a few minutes with a

> suitable cleaver. For anyone who doesn't already know, brains are a

> great source of omega-3 DHA and generally a superfood ala liver.

> Great conversation starter if you pack it in a meal to eat in

> public. As I had a social outing to attend right after I got home

> from the butcher shop, I have verified this first-hand. Despite my

> generosity (whose true magnitude they couldn't truly comprehend for a

> morsel this prized), none of my friends sampled any, but somewhat

> surprisingly someone did accept some raw deer heart without any

> fuss.

>

> Mike

> SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

>Great News! I finally got around to trying raw brains. In fact, last

>week I tried a raw deer brain, and yesterday I scored about 8 lbs of

>grass-fed organic cow brains during slaughter at my local butcher

>shop.

Mike:

Just out of curiosity, how did they kill the cow? The " killers " here use a gun

to the head, which has the potential to add lead to the brains ...

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

I always get the run around from the butchers about it being illegal

to give brains. They won't give me lots of things.

-Joe

> Great News! I finally got around to trying raw brains. In fact,

last

> week I tried a raw deer brain, and yesterday I scored about 8 lbs

of

> grass-fed organic cow brains during slaughter at my local butcher

> shop. The results: Wow! Raw brain is an astounding morsel right

out

> of some veteran seafood lover's wistful fantasies of the soft

> treasures from a species that doesn't exist. " delicacy " is an

> understatement. Once I got the technique down, it turned out not

to

> be so hard to get it out of the head, just a few minutes with a

> suitable cleaver. For anyone who doesn't already know, brains are

a

> great source of omega-3 DHA and generally a superfood ala liver.

> Great conversation starter if you pack it in a meal to eat in

> public. As I had a social outing to attend right after I got home

> from the butcher shop, I have verified this first-hand. Despite my

> generosity (whose true magnitude they couldn't truly comprehend for

a

> morsel this prized), none of my friends sampled any, but somewhat

> surprisingly someone did accept some raw deer heart without any

> fuss.

>

> Mike

> SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

> I always get the run around from the butchers about it being

illegal

> to give brains. They won't give me lots of things.

>

> -Joe

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

well, maybe the solution is to attend the slaughter and get them

yourself like i did. also, maybe you can ask to buy the whole head,

which i'm sure they throw away after chopping it off. then you can

take the brain out yourself at home, and also use it for stock. they

might be stupid enough to leave the tongue in too

i guess it involves some personal connection and trust between you

and the butcher. maybe mail-order would be another option for you.

i bet there are a lot of good brains that go to waste. also,

remember that a good bit of the food distribution for us folks is

done quite illegally...

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

[Guest guest]

>well, maybe the solution is to attend the slaughter and get them

>yourself like i did. also, maybe you can ask to buy the whole head,

>which i'm sure they throw away after chopping it off. then you can

>take the brain out yourself at home, and also use it for stock. they

>might be stupid enough to leave the tongue in too

>i guess it involves some personal connection and trust between you

>and the butcher. maybe mail-order would be another option for you.

>i bet there are a lot of good brains that go to waste. also,

>remember that a good bit of the food distribution for us folks is

>done quite illegally...

Mike:

The " killer " was quite happy to give me anything I wanted,

and I DID get the tongue! In this case I didn't get the

head because the farmer bleaches them and sells

them for " Western " memorabilia. I think you are right,

you need to basically own the animal (buy it outright)

and then you own the parts. If there is a concern

about health, you can " save everything for the dogs "

(which folks are doing, of course). It is illegal to SELL

some of the body parts, but if it is your cow, it is

your cow.

They don't seem to want to process some of the parts

at the butcher shop, possibly for fear of contamination.

They were very, very careful to keep the truck clean.

So internal organs went into sealed drums for

disposal (except that I took most of them).

However, there are unwritten rules I didn't know about.

In this case, for instance, we had an agreement

I didn't get the head. The killer normally gets the

hide, by tradition, which he will sell for about $20.

I paid him $20 to make it even, and gave him a

good tip for helping me identify body parts. It's

a small world, and you want to be friendly with

all the players!

Having done this once, I think it is the only

way to go. How do you KNOW the cow was healthy

unless you see it? Or that the butchering was done

right? I used to laugh at the Asian tradition of buying

a live chicken, because the mamas didn't trust

one dead, they wanted it alive ... now I can

really relate. (there are " pet stores " in some areas

that basically are for the local Asians ... you can

buy a live " pet chicken " there ...).

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

With mad cow its going to get worse. Might be leeway with come to the farm

butchers who know their customers and raising methods well. In a fed

scrutinized facility, can't blame them, they're there to run a business and

don't have the time know people like people used to know people.

Wanita

> I always get the run around from the butchers about it being illegal

> to give brains. They won't give me lots of things.

>

> -Joe

>